How It All Started...
I booked a $28 seat on a Southern Links bus from Queenstown to Christchurch on Naked Bus' website. That bus was scheduled to leave at 9:00AM on November 14th, 2009, from the Athol Street bus stop, a location I was familiar with. I was advised to arrive by 8:55 AM at the lastes.
I arrived at the bus stop at 8:50 AM and waited until 10:30 AM. The bus never came.
Infuriated, I returned to my hostel where I had to book an additional night, inform the hostel in Christchurch that I had to cancel, and inform Naked Bus that, per the conditions of their refund policy, I required a refund for the no-show bus. That was the beginning of two battles I had to fight for $54 owed to me for services not rendered.
I arrived at the bus stop at 8:50 AM and waited until 10:30 AM. The bus never came.
Infuriated, I returned to my hostel where I had to book an additional night, inform the hostel in Christchurch that I had to cancel, and inform Naked Bus that, per the conditions of their refund policy, I required a refund for the no-show bus. That was the beginning of two battles I had to fight for $54 owed to me for services not rendered.
First, I had to get a refund for the night at Jailhouse Accomodation. This should have been an open and shut case: the driver's decision to not be at the bus stop when he was supposed to was INFINITELY beyond my control and I am entitled to a refund despite the personal preferences of the owners of the hostel. Kirstie and Grant insisted that they had a policy, but would supply the refund. The story changed when I managed to get to Christchurch as I was informed that they did not and they charged me for the night I was not there, even though nobody had been denied a bed as a result of my absence (meaning the hostel lost nothing). I demanded to speak to Kirstie in person and was denied, lied to about her whereabouts and told to come back the next day. I insisted upon discussing the matter of my refund in person with her and that is when I got my refund, no questions asked. I should have had the amount credited to the account from which it came the first day I contacted Kristie, but that did not happen until two days of fighting over it with the hostel, all because the bus driver did not want to pick me up that morning.
Second, I had to get a refund from Naked Bus. The Naked Bus refund policy states that if it does not supply a service the customer has paid for, then the customer is entitled to a refund. I emailed Naked Bus informing them that their bus was not there when it was advertised to be there, and as such I am entitled to a full refund of the $28 plus $1 booking fee.
The only way to contact Naked Bus was through their Contact Us form, through which I delivered the following request:
William Burdge
Subject: Request a service
Email: *******@hushmail.me
Booking reference: 4221411-09n1-quechr
Message:
I request a refund for the above booking as the bus did not show up. I arrived at the Athol Street stop for the 9:00 AM IPT Bus from Queenstown to Christchurch on November 14th and I waited from 8:50 AM to 10:30 AM and no bus ever showed. I have had to cancel a hostel booking and re-book and I don't know yet if I am getting a refund from them. Please return the money for the bus that didn't show up.
Thanks,
William Burdge
Auto reply- Naked Bus
ref:[018917] nakedbus.com Autoreply: Request a service
From: [email protected]
To: *******@hushmail.me
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:11:31 +1300 .
Dear William Burdge
Thank you for your email.
This message has been automatically generated in response to your email regarding:
Request a service
Your enquiry has been assigned an ID of 018917. Please include this number in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. You can just click the reply button to do this.
We will respond to your query in 24 hours or less (Christmas Day excepted).
If your message is urgent, you might like to ring us on 0900 NAKED (0900 62533). Calls cost $1.80 per minute. If you cannot get through to this number from your phone, please contact your phone provider (e.g. Vodafone or Telecom) to remove the 0900 bar.
Meanwhile, you can find answers to commonly asked questions here: http://www.nakedbus.com/faq.
Thank you, the team at nakedbus.com
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Twenty-four hours came and went. I was ignored.
My father even took my complaint up with Naked Bus himself, only to be told to, in short, “piss off”.
Second, I had to get a refund from Naked Bus. The Naked Bus refund policy states that if it does not supply a service the customer has paid for, then the customer is entitled to a refund. I emailed Naked Bus informing them that their bus was not there when it was advertised to be there, and as such I am entitled to a full refund of the $28 plus $1 booking fee.
The only way to contact Naked Bus was through their Contact Us form, through which I delivered the following request:
William Burdge
Subject: Request a service
Email: *******@hushmail.me
Booking reference: 4221411-09n1-quechr
Message:
I request a refund for the above booking as the bus did not show up. I arrived at the Athol Street stop for the 9:00 AM IPT Bus from Queenstown to Christchurch on November 14th and I waited from 8:50 AM to 10:30 AM and no bus ever showed. I have had to cancel a hostel booking and re-book and I don't know yet if I am getting a refund from them. Please return the money for the bus that didn't show up.
Thanks,
William Burdge
Auto reply- Naked Bus
ref:[018917] nakedbus.com Autoreply: Request a service
From: [email protected]
To: *******@hushmail.me
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:11:31 +1300 .
Dear William Burdge
Thank you for your email.
This message has been automatically generated in response to your email regarding:
Request a service
Your enquiry has been assigned an ID of 018917. Please include this number in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. You can just click the reply button to do this.
We will respond to your query in 24 hours or less (Christmas Day excepted).
If your message is urgent, you might like to ring us on 0900 NAKED (0900 62533). Calls cost $1.80 per minute. If you cannot get through to this number from your phone, please contact your phone provider (e.g. Vodafone or Telecom) to remove the 0900 bar.
Meanwhile, you can find answers to commonly asked questions here: http://www.nakedbus.com/faq.
Thank you, the team at nakedbus.com
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...
...
...
.................... ............. .........
... .... .. .
.
... . .
Twenty-four hours came and went. I was ignored.
My father even took my complaint up with Naked Bus himself, only to be told to, in short, “piss off”.
Christopher Burdge
2009/11/16
Subject: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
Name: Christopher Burdge
Email: **********@hushmail.com
Booking reference: 4122141-09n1-quechr
Message:
On 13 November, my son William Burdge made a reservation on Nakedbus.com for passage from Queenstown to Christchurch where I was at the time. William arrived at the bus stop on the following morning at 8:50 AM and waited until 10:30 for the 9:00 AM bus. William is a well traveled individual and never misses his departures whether they be by plane, train, bus, or ferry. Nakedbus.com is now the first. The first rule in travel is to never miss your departure transport regardless of where and when it is for everything gets worse after that. I have used Nakedbus.com twice during my stay in New Zealand so far in two return trips (Christchurch to Queenstown and Christchurch to Dunedin). The one thing that stood out was the frontier cowboy mentality in the drivers, which is not always bad as I much like that myself. Problems arise when this cowboy mentality injures or screws over the passengers. I cannot complain in any instance on my two round trips as I had good drivers. I sat in the seat directly behind the driver in both return trips and watched their behavior. The problem my son had when his bus left early without him other people on my trips also have is being left behind at bus stops by the "cowboy" mentality. What the drivers do not understand is that they work for the customer, of which many are foreign backpackers that do not always understand what is said by the driver or understand it due to the culture change. Screw the customer and you will eventually get fired and the company will fade from view and eventually fail. What happened to my son was ENTIRELY Nakedbus.com\'s fault and therefore your company will pay for the money my son LOST. William lost the $28 NZD fee for the bus trip, the one night stay already reserved and paid for at Jailhouse Accomodation, a further $26. Credit the full amount back to the debit card where his reservation came from and we will consider the issue closed. Failure to do this will open a new and much higher level of confrontation.Please review this below evidence that explains our resolutions in dealing with individuals, companies, and governments. The first is a letter from your prime minister's office after the New Zealand Government's National Airline, Air New Zealand, extorted money from my son even before he entered the country.(letter not yet included). The second is an on-going issue with another New Zealand business and the New Zealand Government. The two URLs (www.NewZealandOldScam.weebly.com and www.TruthAboutNewZealandWine.com) tell the story about the latter. The contractor is out of business with the website down and Laurie Norton, the former Labor Inspector for Nelson, has been removed from his post for his illegal actions. That is only the beginning as the rest will follow. Do something and pay my son back the money or there will be websites on Nakedbus.com [by the way, thank you for reading them!] that will cost your company a great deal of money and possibly the company and the final bill will be much higher the longer this goes on.
Hamish - Naked Bus
Hi Christopher
Thanks for your email.
I have looked into this trip - the reference number you gave is incorrect - it should be 4221411-09N1-QUECHR
On this day, 13 passengers were due to board the bus at Queenstown. All but one passenger boarded (your son).
I am sorry your son failed to board the bus on the 14th, but I am sure the driver was not at fault. Our drivers are not in the habit of leaving early as they understand the importance of waiting for the departure time. We have regular drivers on this route, and we just do not have complaints about leaving early. [this is a personal opinion, to the letter, and does not constitute any evidence to disprove William's legitimate claim]
/
I am afraid we are unable to offer any compensation on this occasion.
Regards
Hamish
nakedbus.com
William Burdge
Subject: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
Email: *******@hushmail.com
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:37:17 +1200
Booking reference: 4221411-09N1-QUECHR
Message:
Dear Hamish,
My name is William Burdge and I am the passenger in question which the Nov 14 QUE-CHR bus failed to pick up. First, I would appreciate it if I was contacted regarding this as I filed my complaint more than three days ago, yet I was ignored. That is inexcusable and disrespectful.
Second, your personal opinion regarding the quality of your own company's service is entirely worthless. It is the opinion of the customer which is important as without the customers, there is no company, something Nakedbus seems to have forgotten. Despite your personal opinion, the drivers are indeed in the habit of leaving Nakedbus-booked passengers behind. It has happened to me and my father witnessed it on several occasions, one involving two young, male backpackers. One was on the bus and the other was going to board when the driver shut the door and drove off, stopping only at the protest of the backpacker who was already on the bus. A second instance happened at Lake Tekapo where the driver found that two passengers were missing. He gave them two minutes to get back to the bus and, without even asking anybody where they were, left them behind with their bags still in the luggage storage of the bus.
Unlike what you have said about your drivers, these stories are not my personal opinion. They are testimonies from Nakedbus customers. Your refund policy states: "The ONLY situation in which we will provide a refund is when we fail to provide the service as advertised." Your service was the 9:00 bus to Christchurch, which left before 9 :00, thus not fulfilling the service I PAID FOR. Your company has $29 of mine and I demand it be returned to the card it was stolen from. Yes, I said STOLEN, for you charged me for a service you refused to provide due to your inept drivers, whether you wish to confirm that or not. Your company owes me $29. If the money is not returned in 48 hours from the time I sent this message I will compile a website about this incident and accrue testimonies from other, unsatisfied customers who have had the same experience and expose Nakedbus for what it is: a scam. The company will further owe me for the hours I spend working on this case.
Your company has forgotten what comes first, THE CUSTOMER. If you violate the customer, as you have done to me, you lose his business and make an enemy of him and he will endeavor to limit your business by alerting others to your con-game. Leaving passengers behind and refusing to supply refunds that customers are entitled to violates the customers. WITHOUT CUSTOMERS LIKE ME, YOUR COMPANY DOES NOT EXIST.
Return the money you stole from me. If you think this is a bluff, inspect the following:
www.FunkyBackpackersHostel.com
www.NewZealandOldScam.weebly.com
www.RichardDematto.com
You aren't the first company/individual who has tried to screw me and if you do not return my money Nakedbus will have a website of it's own - and I have become an expert on getting websites to the top 10 of Google searches.
Regards,
William Burdge
Subject: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
Email: *******@hushmail.com
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:37:17 +1200
Booking reference: 4221411-09N1-QUECHR
Message:
Dear Hamish,
My name is William Burdge and I am the passenger in question which the Nov 14 QUE-CHR bus failed to pick up. First, I would appreciate it if I was contacted regarding this as I filed my complaint more than three days ago, yet I was ignored. That is inexcusable and disrespectful.
Second, your personal opinion regarding the quality of your own company's service is entirely worthless. It is the opinion of the customer which is important as without the customers, there is no company, something Nakedbus seems to have forgotten. Despite your personal opinion, the drivers are indeed in the habit of leaving Nakedbus-booked passengers behind. It has happened to me and my father witnessed it on several occasions, one involving two young, male backpackers. One was on the bus and the other was going to board when the driver shut the door and drove off, stopping only at the protest of the backpacker who was already on the bus. A second instance happened at Lake Tekapo where the driver found that two passengers were missing. He gave them two minutes to get back to the bus and, without even asking anybody where they were, left them behind with their bags still in the luggage storage of the bus.
Unlike what you have said about your drivers, these stories are not my personal opinion. They are testimonies from Nakedbus customers. Your refund policy states: "The ONLY situation in which we will provide a refund is when we fail to provide the service as advertised." Your service was the 9:00 bus to Christchurch, which left before 9 :00, thus not fulfilling the service I PAID FOR. Your company has $29 of mine and I demand it be returned to the card it was stolen from. Yes, I said STOLEN, for you charged me for a service you refused to provide due to your inept drivers, whether you wish to confirm that or not. Your company owes me $29. If the money is not returned in 48 hours from the time I sent this message I will compile a website about this incident and accrue testimonies from other, unsatisfied customers who have had the same experience and expose Nakedbus for what it is: a scam. The company will further owe me for the hours I spend working on this case.
Your company has forgotten what comes first, THE CUSTOMER. If you violate the customer, as you have done to me, you lose his business and make an enemy of him and he will endeavor to limit your business by alerting others to your con-game. Leaving passengers behind and refusing to supply refunds that customers are entitled to violates the customers. WITHOUT CUSTOMERS LIKE ME, YOUR COMPANY DOES NOT EXIST.
Return the money you stole from me. If you think this is a bluff, inspect the following:
www.FunkyBackpackersHostel.com
www.NewZealandOldScam.weebly.com
www.RichardDematto.com
You aren't the first company/individual who has tried to screw me and if you do not return my money Nakedbus will have a website of it's own - and I have become an expert on getting websites to the top 10 of Google searches.
Regards,
William Burdge
Auto reply- Naked Bus
This message has been automatically generated in response to your email regarding:
I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
Your enquiry has been assigned an ID of 018988. Please include this number in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. You can just click the reply button to do this.
nakedbus.com takes all complaints seriously. We will investigate this issue and reply with a suggested resolution in 5 working days or less.
If your message is urgent, you might like to ring us on 0900 NAKED (0900 62533). Calls cost $1.80 per minute. If you cannot get through to this number from your phone, please contact your phone provider (e.g. Vodafone or Telecom) to remove the 0900 bar.
Meanwhile, you can find answers to commonly asked questions here: http://www.nakedbus.com/faq.
T hank you, the team at nakedbus.com
Jerry - Nakedbus [note how they keep switching from one person to another, it drags out situations and causes many to give up the battle. This is standard operating procedure in ripoff companies I have had to fight back home in the States]
Re: ref: [018988] nakedbus.com Autoreply: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
From: nakedbus help <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:48:57 +1200
Hi William
Thank you for your email. This is the first email we have received from you regards to this particular complaint. If you have not received an auto response from Nakedbus after your first submission, it means Nakedbus would not have received your previous complaint more than three days ago.
We will investigate your complaint thoroughly, and will get back to you within 5 working days.
To assist us with our investigation, can we also know:
1.) Where about were you waiting for the bus on the 14th November?
2.) What time did you arrive at the bus stop?
3.) Which bus did you look out for?
Any details provided is greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much
Kind Regards
Jerry
nakedbus.com
Re: ref: [018988] nakedbus.com Autoreply: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
From: nakedbus help <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:48:57 +1200
Hi William
Thank you for your email. This is the first email we have received from you regards to this particular complaint. If you have not received an auto response from Nakedbus after your first submission, it means Nakedbus would not have received your previous complaint more than three days ago.
We will investigate your complaint thoroughly, and will get back to you within 5 working days.
To assist us with our investigation, can we also know:
1.) Where about were you waiting for the bus on the 14th November?
2.) What time did you arrive at the bus stop?
3.) Which bus did you look out for?
Any details provided is greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much
Kind Regards
Jerry
nakedbus.com
William Burdge
Re: ref: [018988] nakedbus.com Autoreply: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
From: *******@hushmail.com
To: nakedbus help <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:34:45 +1200
Jerry,
First, this is the second message Nakedbus has received from me. The first was rudely ignored and I have copied and pasted it below:
__________________________________________________________________
Dear William Burdge
Thank you for your email.
This message has been automatically generated in response to youremail regarding:
Request a service
Your enquiry has been assigned an ID of 018917. Please include thisnumber in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. You can just click the reply button to do this.
We will respond to your query in 24 hours or less (Christmas Day excepted). [is it just me or do I keep seeing this again and again?]
If your message is urgent, you might like to ring us on 0900 NAKED (0900 62533). Calls cost $1.80 per minute. If you cannot getthrough to this number from your phone, please contact your phoneprovider (e.g. Vodafone or Telecom) to remove the 0900 bar.
Meanwhile, you can find answers to commonly asked questions here:
http://www.nakedbus.com/faq.
Thank you, the team at nakedbus.com
Your message:
Subject: Request a service
Name: William Burdge
Email: *******@hushmail.me
Booking reference: 4221411-09n1-quechr
Message:
I request a refund for the above booking as the bus did not show up. I arrived at the Athol Street stop for the 9:00 AM IPT Bus from Queenstown to Christchurch on November 14th and I waited from 8:50 AM to 10:30 AM and no bus ever showed. I have had to cancel a hostel booking and re-book and I don\'t know yet if I am getting a refund from them. Please return the money for the bus that didn't show up.
Thanks,
William Burdge
_________________________________________________________________
Second, as for the information you require:
- I was waiting at the bus stop on Athol Street in Queenstown on the bench across from the toilets.
- I arrived at 8:50 AM from my hostel which was 2 minutes up the road. I waited until 10:30 AM for the bus before I decided it must have left without me.
- I looked out for the IPT bus I was told to look out for. No IPT or Atomic Shuttles bus ever came, nor any other bus apart from the local metro buses which look nothing like Nakedbus' vehicles.
Regards,
William Burdge
Angel - Nakedbus
Hi William
The email you have included here is the automatic respond for requesting a service whereas your submission is a complaint for our service. The service request was also submitted under a different email address thus Jerry could not match them in the system. We respond to all complaints coming into our inbox within 5 working days as stated on the website. [this is a blatant lie, the email I received stated clearly that I would receive a response within 24 hours] There was also a complaint submitted by Christopher on your behalf and it was addressed by Hamish on the day.
Our findings is still the same, that 12 other passengers board the service on time and at the place stated on the confirmation letter (Athol Street) so we are unsure why you did not manage to board the service on the day. Nakedbus has provided the service as promised from our end and we will not be providing a refund or compensation in this case. [No it has not and yes you will]
Kind Regards,
Angel
nakedbus.com
Hi William
The email you have included here is the automatic respond for requesting a service whereas your submission is a complaint for our service. The service request was also submitted under a different email address thus Jerry could not match them in the system. We respond to all complaints coming into our inbox within 5 working days as stated on the website. [this is a blatant lie, the email I received stated clearly that I would receive a response within 24 hours] There was also a complaint submitted by Christopher on your behalf and it was addressed by Hamish on the day.
Our findings is still the same, that 12 other passengers board the service on time and at the place stated on the confirmation letter (Athol Street) so we are unsure why you did not manage to board the service on the day. Nakedbus has provided the service as promised from our end and we will not be providing a refund or compensation in this case. [No it has not and yes you will]
Kind Regards,
Angel
nakedbus.com
William Burdge
Re: ref: [018988] nakedbus.com Autoreply: I had a bad experience with nakedbus.com
From: *******@hushmail.com
To: nakedbus help <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:06:34 +1200
Angel,
By saying what you have said you have enacted war between myself and Nakedbus. This is unacceptable for a company to act this way to a customer. I am not a kiss-ass Kiwi like many I have met that would take this lying down, I am an American citizen and that means I don't have to take shit from people like you. Your company will owe me for the ticket, the booking fee, and the hours I spend
working on this case as what you have done is immoral and illegal.
See you in hell,
William Burdge
Where I come from, this is called theft. Theft is a crime. Naked Bus stole $29 of my money and left me on the street waiting for a bus that left over fifteen minutes early.
I dispute the time of departure, repeatedly. In a civilized society, when such a record is disputed, it is PRODUCED. At no time does Naked Bus even consider the thought of producing the time record of departure, for clearly that would vindicate me and force Naked Bus to return my stolen money.
Naked Bus will deny this, but I am not the only case. Christopher Burdge himself was witness to several instances where the driver deliberately left passengers behind, or attempted to and failed.
Then I found this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/811365
Bus Does A Runner 27/01/2009 Ben Campbell Papakura Courier
Bus does a runner Last updated 15:53 27/01/2009 BEN CAMPBELL/Papakura Courier
WHERE'S THE GEAR?: Bryce Gosnell with children Taylor-Ann, 12, left, and Carl, 13, who were left behind by a bus in Rotorua and had their possessions stolen.
A cheap trip on a Naked Bus has left two teenagers stripped of thousands of dollars of electronic equipment. NakedBus.com advertises its bus services as having the cheapest long-distance fares in the country. But one angry dad says the company is cutting corners on service. Bryce Gosnell says his children’s 20-minute pitstop in Rotorua has turned into a month-long battle with the company and its operator, Pavlovich Coachlines. Carl Gosnell, 13, and his sister Taylor-Ann Kirk, 12, travelled on the bus heading from Manukau to Feilding on their way to spending Christmas in Wanganui with family and friends. The Papakura teens say they had "a bite to eat" at Rotorua’s I-Site tourism centre where the bus stopped for a 20-minute break. But when they looked up from their food the bus had disappeared. "We asked the cafeteria lady how long have we been here and she said about 15 minutes," says Taylor-Ann, a Rosehill Intermediate School student. "So we ran out and looked and it wasn’t there and then we waited for a while and it didn’t come back. "So we went to the information centre and we talked to the lady and she said the bus had left ages ago." The pair were upset the bus had left without them. But their thoughts immediately turned to their carry-on bags, which the driver had told them to leave on the bus. The bags contained two portable PlayStation consoles, two iPods, a digital camera and two cellphones. "I felt sad because I knew they would be stolen," says Carl, a year 9 student at Rosehill College. A staff member at the information centre contacted the bus company and asked that the driver find and secure the children’s gear. An hour later, after calls to their grandfather David Gosnell in Wanganui, the children were booked on the next InterCity bus to Bulls. They arrived safely but the same can’t be said for the $2500 worth of property left behind on the Naked Bus. David and his wife made sure they met the Naked Bus when it arrived and asked the driver about the children’s bags. "He immediately hopped out of his seat and started looking for their gear and he came back with one bag that was empty." The second bag was also found empty. The driver apologised, David says. But neither he nor the children’s father Bryce were prepared to let the matter lie. Bryce says in a phone discussion with Pavlovich Coachlines operations manager Peter Farland and the driver he found them to be "totally unremorseful". "Mr Farland basically said their bus driver was not at fault for anything and that we weren’t going anywhere in the conversation – they’d made their point that they weren’t responsible yet absolutely refused to listen to my side of the story." Mr Farland says the driver did all he was required to do by waiting the alloted 20 minutes at Rotorua and another 10 minutes for latecomers. The driver also looked for the left luggage at the next stop but couldn’t find anything. "We’re obviously just going off their word that this electronic equipment was in these bags, keeping in mind the driver does not know which bags belong to which customers when they’re carrying it on to the vehicle themselves." Mr Farland says the driver deals with 80 or more passengers getting on or off the bus each day. Timetables are strict and are monitored through a cellphone checking system which links with the Naked Bus computer system. It shows the bus left Rotorua behind schedule because the driver had waited five minutes more than normal, Mr Farland says. And it’s clearly the passenger’s responsibility to board the bus after a rest stop, he says. But Bryce Gosnell believes the company is responsible for the theft of his children’s gear and its customer service has been "appalling". "Anybody else in the service industry would front up and deal with a situation like this when it arises but Naked Bus don’t care." He has asked Naked Bus for an apology and to refund the children’s fare and pay for the InterCity fare. He also says it should pay the insurance excess of $150 for the stolen items and $50 compensation to the children. The family is now considering taking the matter to the small claims court but Bryce says at the end of the day "the gear doesn’t matter as long as the kids are okay". Mr Farland says the company always cares about its customers and is "more than willing" to engage in the court process.
WHERE'S THE GEAR?: Bryce Gosnell with children Taylor-Ann, 12, left, and Carl, 13, who were left behind by a bus in Rotorua and had their possessions stolen.
A cheap trip on a Naked Bus has left two teenagers stripped of thousands of dollars of electronic equipment. NakedBus.com advertises its bus services as having the cheapest long-distance fares in the country. But one angry dad says the company is cutting corners on service. Bryce Gosnell says his children’s 20-minute pitstop in Rotorua has turned into a month-long battle with the company and its operator, Pavlovich Coachlines. Carl Gosnell, 13, and his sister Taylor-Ann Kirk, 12, travelled on the bus heading from Manukau to Feilding on their way to spending Christmas in Wanganui with family and friends. The Papakura teens say they had "a bite to eat" at Rotorua’s I-Site tourism centre where the bus stopped for a 20-minute break. But when they looked up from their food the bus had disappeared. "We asked the cafeteria lady how long have we been here and she said about 15 minutes," says Taylor-Ann, a Rosehill Intermediate School student. "So we ran out and looked and it wasn’t there and then we waited for a while and it didn’t come back. "So we went to the information centre and we talked to the lady and she said the bus had left ages ago." The pair were upset the bus had left without them. But their thoughts immediately turned to their carry-on bags, which the driver had told them to leave on the bus. The bags contained two portable PlayStation consoles, two iPods, a digital camera and two cellphones. "I felt sad because I knew they would be stolen," says Carl, a year 9 student at Rosehill College. A staff member at the information centre contacted the bus company and asked that the driver find and secure the children’s gear. An hour later, after calls to their grandfather David Gosnell in Wanganui, the children were booked on the next InterCity bus to Bulls. They arrived safely but the same can’t be said for the $2500 worth of property left behind on the Naked Bus. David and his wife made sure they met the Naked Bus when it arrived and asked the driver about the children’s bags. "He immediately hopped out of his seat and started looking for their gear and he came back with one bag that was empty." The second bag was also found empty. The driver apologised, David says. But neither he nor the children’s father Bryce were prepared to let the matter lie. Bryce says in a phone discussion with Pavlovich Coachlines operations manager Peter Farland and the driver he found them to be "totally unremorseful". "Mr Farland basically said their bus driver was not at fault for anything and that we weren’t going anywhere in the conversation – they’d made their point that they weren’t responsible yet absolutely refused to listen to my side of the story." Mr Farland says the driver did all he was required to do by waiting the alloted 20 minutes at Rotorua and another 10 minutes for latecomers. The driver also looked for the left luggage at the next stop but couldn’t find anything. "We’re obviously just going off their word that this electronic equipment was in these bags, keeping in mind the driver does not know which bags belong to which customers when they’re carrying it on to the vehicle themselves." Mr Farland says the driver deals with 80 or more passengers getting on or off the bus each day. Timetables are strict and are monitored through a cellphone checking system which links with the Naked Bus computer system. It shows the bus left Rotorua behind schedule because the driver had waited five minutes more than normal, Mr Farland says. And it’s clearly the passenger’s responsibility to board the bus after a rest stop, he says. But Bryce Gosnell believes the company is responsible for the theft of his children’s gear and its customer service has been "appalling". "Anybody else in the service industry would front up and deal with a situation like this when it arises but Naked Bus don’t care." He has asked Naked Bus for an apology and to refund the children’s fare and pay for the InterCity fare. He also says it should pay the insurance excess of $150 for the stolen items and $50 compensation to the children. The family is now considering taking the matter to the small claims court but Bryce says at the end of the day "the gear doesn’t matter as long as the kids are okay". Mr Farland says the company always cares about its customers and is "more than willing" to engage in the court process.
It became clear to me that Naked Bus is merely another con-game, where the ticket you buy is more like a lottery ticket, with a “chance” of receiving a service rather than a guarantee, with no guarantee of a refund when you do not get what you pay for. The words of Peter Farland when he stated, “the company always cares about its customers and is 'more than willing' to engage in the court process,” makes it terribly clear that Naked Bus does not discuss disputes with it's customers unless they file a lawsuit, meaning whenever a problem arises, standard operating procedure is to avoid the problem until the courts deem it unavoidable. Such practices are despicable for a company run by New Zealanders and should be condemned through the boycott of Naked Bus services. If there is a dispute regarding a service, especially one paid for and not received, the company should discuss it with the customer, one-to-one. That is how civilized society resolves problems. If Naked Bus will not conduct business in a civilized manner then it's service should be boycotted to bar it from civilized society.
Ask yourself, is it worth saving a few dollars on a bus service to endure what I and many, many others have endured?